Opposite Sides of the Fence
by FueledByEnvy
Summary: On the outside, her life appeared perfect - a loving younger brother, a mother and father with stable jobs, and whatever she asked for appearing in her hands; though it's hard to be that perfect.


**Hey everyone! This is the prequel to ****_Nostalgia _****that I was talking about. It's going to be a lot darker (considering Nostalgia's pretty cutesy, haha, ****_so far) _****and I'm really excited to start it!**

**Okay, before I start, I've never read High Speed!, but I plan to soon, so this won't be following its storyline. Normally I prefer to keep everything as close to the storyline as possible, but I'm just excited to start this. I know I'm going to read it after writing this and then I'll just be really upset that this is so wrong, but oh well.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Free!.**

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"This looks creepy."

Those were the first words on the house as the family drove down its long dirt drive way, tall trees putting a canopy of orange and red leaves above. They were said by the brunette girl in the backseat, whose pink eyes stared out the window and at the forest surrounding them. _There's no way I can walk down this every morning, _she thought. _This is like a mile walk, and who knows what's hiding out in those trees._

Her brother spoke from beside her, pink eyes glittering, "I like it, onee-chan!" said the blonde boy, and all his sister did was nod in response. She expected such a reply to him - he had always been into the supernatural.

Her father began speaking from the front seat, a burly man with the same brown hair as his daughter, "You should try to have Nagisa's enthusiasm, Akihiko." said her father, and she held back a grimace from the backseat. She was used to words like this being said by her parents, though she had learned to hold no spite to her tiny brother - they were right, she did need to be as gung-ho as her brother; as funny as him; as cute as him. Though her grades excelled and she was first-chair clarinet, the could still find faults in her attitude; her appearance; her weight. Make-up was not something allowed for the twelve-year-old-girl, and tee-shirts had to hide her and whatever type of form she was growing. Though she was kept busy with solo ensemble, concerts, and tutoring those clarinetists below her, her parents made it clear she should have time for sports, always pointing out her wide-hips that they forced her to hide. She was not allowed to snap back, no matter how far their insults went.

"You shouldn't daydream as much, Akihiko." said her mother, and Akihiko nodded, turning away from the window. _'You shouldn't daydream as much'; 'You shouldn't listen into our conversations, nobody was talking to you'; 'You should talk more. Are you anti-social?'; 'Why don't you ever stop talking?' _Aside from the lowering of her self-esteem, her life was not that awful, she assumed; she received whatever she asked for as long as her grades stayed up and her chores were done everyday.

"Right. Sorry, mom." the girl said quickly, hands folding in her lap. Finally, the truck they drove in bounced to a stop in front of the house's garage; a quaint little white fence outlined the front of the house, though Akihiko couldn't help but feel that that added to its creepy factor.

The house was a grand, white two-story, with dark green trimming and a porch that wrapped round the front of the house. The mother was the first one to get out, Coach purse hanging over her shoulder as she elegantly put her feet down on the dirt. She was a wide-hipped woman, same as her daughter, with the blonde hair of her son and pink eyes of both her children. Both children seemed to favor their mother - their father was almost always as work, leaving before they came home from school and returning late into the night; though her mother worked a seven-in-the-morning to a eight-at-night shift as an E.R. nurse, they were still able to see their mother on the days she did not work.

Nagisa hopped out quickly, going round to his older sister; he grabbed her hand and led her up to the porch, pushing aside the gate and bounding straight up to the door. He peeked in, using the hand that didn't hold Akihiko's to peer inside, and, after a moment, Akihiko did the same.

_It doesn't look as big inside. _she thought, though did not speak this out loud, unsure what her parents' response would be. The two elders walked up, glancing inside windows, a _'No Trespassing' _sign plastered on the window.

"Does it have a fence?" blurted out Akihiko, turning to look at her mother, "It needs to have a fence, for Hime."

Her father responded before his wife could, "It has a fence." he assured, stepping down the porch's two steps and beginning to walk round the house to the backyard. Akihiko glanced over at the fence she'd deemed creepy - it was cut off at the drive way, continuing on the other side, and the girl figured their dog could break it down if she wanted too.

Nagisa pulled her off the porch to follow their father, their mother slowly walking after them. Akihiko saw that the white fence turned into a well-kept chain fence, no weeds growing in it, cutting the forest off from the house's yard. The house had a back porch, and a place that looked where it use to house a pool; a shed was kept off to the side. _Where they keep the dead bodies, _Akihiko told herself.

Nagisa led her up to the back porch, glancing around the yard, a breeze going over them, causing Akihiko to retreat further into her sweater. Leaves rustled above as their mother glanced into the glass doors, calling her husband over to her, scattering dead leaves in the yard.

Dropping her brother's hand for a moment, Akihiko walked over to her mother, sliding beside her and glancing inside as well - her father gave her a hesitant look, before shoving her out of the way to look in himself. She stumbled, glaring at him, and opened her mouth to hiss an, _'Excuse you,' _when Nagisa grabbed her hand, flashing a knowing look.

"Come on, onee-chan," said the boy, beginning to tug on her hand, "Let's go look around the yard!"

She let him pull her along, off the porch and into the backyard - their feet kicked up leaves, dry grass crunching underneath their feet.

_"Ready, Gou?! Here I come!"_

_"It's **Kou**!"_

_"Whatever!"_

At the voices that echoed throughout the forest, Akihiko's grip tightened on her brother's hand - she pulled him back to her and he cast her a confused look, tugging back.

"But - onee-chan, they must be our neighbors! Let's go meet them!"

She tugged back on his hand, "We don't know if we're moving here yet, Nagi."

"Go meet them with your little brother, Aki!" snapped her mother, and the girl cringed, lowering her head and nodded slowly.

Nagisa smiled, pulling his sister along to the edge of the fence; a young girl came running through the forest, tree branches snapping at her weight. At seeing the two other children out of the corner of her red eyes, she slowed down, before stopping, glancing at them.

"... Onii-chan!" she called, and when her brother did not reply, her cheeks puffed out, slowly walking towards the fence.

Another, heavier weight was heard in the forest - a redhead boy jumped out of the forest in a way that made Akihiko flinch back, hitting who could only be his sister on her shoulder.

_"You're it!" _he cried, shoulders heaving with each breath he took.

_"We're on time-out, stupid!"_

_"Are not!"_

_"Are too!"_

Nagisa flashed a cheeky grin, drawing the siblings' attention, "Hi!" he exclaimed, pink eyes sparkling at them through the fence, "I'm Nagisa, and this is my sister, Aki! We're going to be your neighbors!"

The girl beside him immediately intervened at that, still hand-in-hand with her brother, "We're not sure if we're moving here, yet." she said, squeezing Nagisa's hand, and he glanced at her out of the corner of his eye.

"But, onee-chan," began Nagisa, "Lando-kun goes to Iwatobi! Don't you want to go to school with her?"

Akihiko hesitated, glancing down at the boy and blinking, opening her mouth to speak, though was cut off by the redhead boy on the other side of the fence.

"Lando?" he asked, "Lando _Layton?"_

Akihiko turned from her brother, grip tightening on his hand as she nodded, "Um - yeah. Layton."

"You know her?"

The girl nodded slowly, eyes gazing at the boy as if he were a wild animal - though, in all reality, she just needed new glasses and had to squint to fully make out his form. "Yeah. My mom and her grandma are friends." she said simply.

"She doesn't like me."

Akihiko hesitated, and couldn't help but smile. "She doesn't like a lot of people." she said softly, shrugging.

_"Aki, Nagi! Come on, we have to get home before it gets dark!"_

"Coming, mom!" Akihiko called back, looking over her shoulder at the impatient woman, who stood with her hands against her hips as she waited. She pulled on her brother's hand, "Come on, Nagi."

"Wait, Aki! - Hey, what's your names?"

"That's my sister, Gou." said the boy, jabbing his thumb over his shoulder at the girl; her cheeks puffed out again, hissing, "It's _Kou, _not Gou!"

The boy gave a smile, revealing a single sharp tooth, "And I'm Rin Matsuoka!"

Akihiko pulled on her brother's hand once again, "Yeah, that's good! Bye, Rin Matsuoka! _Come on, Nagi, Mom's gonna get mad!"_

Nagisa rolled his eyes at his sister, though cast a wave over his shoulder at the siblings, Akihiko not even bothering to give them a second glance.

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**I feel like this is really bad.**

**Sorry!**


End file.
